September - A RR Round Up

A round up of all the culinary happenings from September - eating out, new discoveries and other news!

So September has been and gone and we are officially into Autumn. Kinda glad. This year is winding down. The sun is going to bed earlier and so am I and loving it. Early nights are just so therapeutic. I used to stay awake 'til 11.30pm at least staring at articles on my phone - Whatever thought popped into my head i'd then google it and then read page after page of text with none of it actually going in because I was too tired to retain it. Overthinking. I call it the witching hour. When you should be asleep but you're just going through things in your mind and fretting/over analyzing/googling/reading forums. Do you do that? Or scrolling through social media feeds.

Aside from the emergence of a new settled routine, was a whole host of delicious food, fun and frolicking in the sea in Spain. So here's a little round-up of what went on in September...

Fiery Foods Festival

The 'Put the toilet roll in the fridge' festival came to Brighton as it does every Sept, gathering a range of spicy food stalls together in Victoria gardens and then compensating with various frozen yoghurt and milk shake stalls and many portaloos in anticipation. There's the yearly chilli eating festival where someone bleeds from their eyes and the winner gets an ulcer. It's delicious and this is what we ate...

Pho were there. God I love Pho. Don't care if it's a chain. Love it. My mate had the summer rolls and I couldn't leave the papaya salad there. Buff.

The above is jerk pulled pork from Tasty Ragga. Very fit.

Rice N Peas Pop Up At The Druids

On another jerk note, another mate and I happened to stumble across a Facebook event for a Carribbean pop-up at The Druids Arms on Ditchling. I hadn't been there since, like, 2011? Cray. A duo called Rice N Peas were servin' up jerk chicken which was INSANELY good, jerk pork which was fat juicy cubes of pork, brown rice with kidney beans, a dollop of slaw and a large, round fried dumpling. Crispy and sweet, the dumpling in any form is something I avoid due to stodginess but this one I just wanted to keep on eating!

I had my very first turmeric latte. Have you ever had one? It's not coffee. Took me a while to figure that one out. It's certainly fit, though. Turmeric is amazing for you and it's a really nice Autumn drink that is a good alternative to the omnipresent effing pumpkin spiced latte which I can't stand. I got this one from Six coffee, Western Road, Brighton and it was gently warming with a shocking yellow hue which is fun to swirl around.

Lazy Lizard Beer

On the subject of drinks, I was asked to sample a new product by Lazy Lizard, local brewers who've just released a new Cerveza:

Which I tacticly reserved until it was time for my holiday and I drank both cans on the way to their airport in true holiday style. Perhaps it was the excitement but I definitely credit the beer for the resulting feeling of JOY. It has a light, fruity, citrusy taste which is my favourite in craft beer. I don't really like pale ales and hoppy beers. I love a crisp pilsner with a short finish or anything citrusy. So this one is 4.8% which is what you would call 'sessionable' - meaning you can chug them for ages and not get smashed, as you would with something like Leffe, a previous favourite (learnt the hard way). It doesn't have a lingering finish and it's got very fun, Barcelona-esque packaging! Love!

I've said it once, twice maybe THRICE before but I will say it again. Maoz vegetarian buffet is super. Less than a fiver. All the salad you can fit on your bowl of falafal is yours and more. Tasty, healthy, fibrous, fitness. Find it in Barcelona, France, Brazil, USA, Netherlands and they used to be in London but no longer soz. Come back please!